Austin-based virtualization provider Bitfusion unveiled two news items on May 2: the beta availability of its product, which simplifies server clustering for high-performance apps like artificial intelligence, and a $5 million venture funding round, led by Vanedge Capital.
The funding includes participation from Sierra Ventures, Data Collective, Resonant VC, and Geekdom.
The new product, Bitfusion Flex, is specialized to reduce the time and expense associated with AI projects by accelerating development times and cutting infrastructure costs, CEO and co-founder Subbu Rama told eWEEK.
The infrastructure management software enables AI developers to streamline the development and deployment of deep-learning applications by dynamically scaling and sharing on-demand compute power, Rama said.
Powered by Bitfusion’s core virtualization engine, Bitfusion Flex is said to optimize deep learning workflows throughout the AI application lifecycle, including development, training and inference. It can be deployed into any data center or cloud and dramatically enhances the use of GPUs, FPGAs and other AI compute resources across all major deep learning frameworks, Rama said.
Bitfusion’s core virtualization technology provides a transparent software layer that combines multiple systems into a single elastic compute cluster that supports the sharing and scaling of compute resources, Rama said. It works out of the box with pre-existing AI applications and is compatible with bare metal, containerized and virtualized environments, he said.
Bitfusion Flex provides the end-to-end management framework for developers to leverage the core virtualization engine across AI applications and environments.
Bitfusion’s successful Series A financing demonstrates strong industry support and shows the importance of the growing market for AI infrastructure solutions.
The Bitfusion Flex beta release became available May 2. To schedule a demo or to request access, go here.